Browns’ Cribbs the it’ man

Wednesday

Something about Browns wide receiver Joshua Cribbs makes people want to see more. They want to see it tonight at Chicago. They suspect it can sting the Steelers.

Charisma. Guts. “It.”
Something about Browns wide receiver Joshua Cribbs makes people want to see more. They want to see it tonight at Chicago. They suspect it can sting the Steelers.
“There’s so much potential in this offense,” Cribbs says. “I can’t wait until the Pittsburgh game.”
First come the Bears tonight at Soldier Field.
Down the road? There is so much potential in Cribbs beyond the special-teams duty at which he has become a gem.
It’s too bad, some believe, he is being used at receiver and not running back.
As a freshman quarterback at Kent State, he didn’t start until the third game, yet he finished as the MAC’s fifth-leading rusher with 1,019 yards. Phil Steele’s college football magazine called Cribbs “ a dangerous runner and passer who is compared to Michael Vick.”
New Browns Offensive Coordinator Rob Chudzinski is keeping Cribbs at receiver, but Chudzinski does run lots of reverses with Cribbs in practice. There are trick plays featuring No. 16 passing the ball.
Meanwhile, others insist the Browns should throw the ball to Cribbs more often. Unleash him, they say, in this new “attack” offense designed to burn mismatches.
In one such example Saturday, a formation duped Denver into putting a safety rather than a cornerback on Cribbs. The result was a 20-yard sideline catch and run that turned into a game-winning touchdown.
“Great play by Cribbs,” quarterback Brady Quinn said.
A statement for more playing time?
“It’s a statement saying, when in that position, I can score,” Cribbs said. “I have a role on this team.
“I’m standing up like in the military. I’m right there for them. ‘Yes sir.’ ”
Cribbs is loving the Browns’ new vibe. No one comes off the practice field with a brighter glow.
No one is more amused about what a long, strange trip it’s been.
In the spring of 2002, Cribbs was a true freshman running third on the Kent State depth chart.
Ben McDaniels, who led Canton McKinley to two straight state titles, won the starting job in spring practice.
(Here’s a strange story in itself. Dean Pees, the Kent State coach who benched Ben McDaniels in favor of Jeff Valentino for the 2002 opener, now is defensive coordinator for the Patriots, opposite Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels, Ben’s brother.)
In Kent State’s ’02 season, Cribbs played in relief for two games. Then came West Virginia. Cribbs dropped a few jaws in his first college start with an 84-yard run, the longest ever by an opponent at Mountaineer Field . His first MAC start was a 14-10 over archival Akron.
The Zips had another QB likened to Vick in Nick Sparks, a transfer from West Virginia. Sparks, though, got clobbered the previous two weeks at Ohio State and Purdue. He was out for the Kent State game, so Charlie Frye made his first college start — against Cribbs.
It’ll be a gas if the Browns break through the year Cribbs does, with him catching passes from Frye.
Ironically, Cribbs could help Frye delay the installation of a third fellow four-year college starting quarterback, Quinn.
Everyone realizes it will be hard for Frye to hold off Quinn, Cribbs included.
“Quinn looks real good,” Cribbs said. “He’s a heckuva competitor. He’s progressing every day, and he has a strong desire to get in the running for the starting job.”
Frye? Quinn? One of the other guys?
Lots of debate there.
Less on this: Get the ball to Cribbs?
Reach Canton Repository sports writer Steve Doerschuk at (330) 580-8347 or steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com.

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